Trade rumors have already begun swirling around the Oakland A’s star outfielder Matt Holliday. But, according to ESPN.com, the slugger doesn’t mind.

The A’s have struggled so far this year and the always money conscious team seems highly unlikely to resign Holliday who’s making $13.5 million this year and figures to cash in on free agency next year. Holliday, for his part, has only fanned the smoldering trade rumors

• 0 Comments

The Chicago Cubs have reportedly traded starting pitcher Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies for reliever Luis Vizcaino.

The move is largely a salary dump for the Cubs who will rid themselves of about $5 million of Marquis’ $9.5 million salary. The Rockies acquire an enigmatic starter who should eat some innings at the back of their rotation, and dump a reliever who had a 5.43 ERA and a DUI arrest in October.

• 1 Comment

The Free Agent pool of players got a bit bigger at midnight on Friday when players who were not tendered contract offers from their teams became free agents. I’ve broken the list down by position and as you can see, there are a few surprises here including former Dodgers closer Takashi Saito (2.49 ERA and 18 saves) and Nationals starter Tim Redding (10 wins).

• 2 Comments

Teams have until midnight eastern time tonight to extend offers of arbitration to their free agents and I’ll be updating this page as often as news becomes available about teams’ arbitration actions.

Update

The offers are all in, and according to the AP only 24 players were offered arbitration. The list is as follows:

• 1 Comment

The St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly working on a deal to send All-Star outfielder Ryan Ludwick to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for slugger Matt Holliday.
Ludwick enjoyed a break out year last year batting .299 with 37 home runs and 113 RBI while Holliday hit .321 with 25 long balls, and 88 runs driven in. [...]

• 0 Comments

Buster Olney is citing a source that claims the likely hood of the A’s completing any more trades before todays deadline is “less than 1%.”
The A’s have been busy players as we approached the deadline dealing both Joe Blanton and Rich Harden. However, it appears that other Oakland players that had been rumored to be [...]

• 0 Comments

Reader Cody asks:
Is there any rumors going around having to do with the cardinals aquiring a Starting pitcher such as A.J. Burnett or Roy Halladay? Or Is it true that the cardinals are increasing pursuit of Fuentes? Also one last question, is it in any way possible the cardinals will work out a deal for [...]

• 1 Comment

The Colorado Rockies have agreed to a two year deal with MVP runner up (and in my book, the more deserving player) Matt Holliday. The deal is reportedly worth $23 million over the two years and keeps the team from having to fight the player in an arbitration hearing. While arbitration used to be fairly [...]

• 1 Comment

The New York Mets are reportedly once again looking for a starting catcher. The Mets were thought to have reached a deal with former Colorado Rockie catcher Yorvit Torrealba, however, that deal apparently fell through. The New York Times had this quote:
“We didn’t reach an agreement with Torrealba, and we don’t have any ongoing negotiations [...]

• 0 Comments

As if the Hot Stove hasn’t been exciting enough already so far, tomorrow marks the start of the GM meetings in Florida. With such a limited class of free agents this year, several teams are going to be forced to get creative in the trade market. When you throw in the fact that one of [...]

• 0 Comments